Part 5 – Implications for societyHuman augmentation might also increase anxiety in the workplace, particularly if
employees are intrusively monitored by bosses trying to increase productivity. People
may also feel pressured to undergo human augmentation to compete for advantage in
the workplace. While employers may benefit from, or even encourage, these trends there
could be significant long-term cost to mental health and social cohesion.
Social cohesion
Human augmentation could help to improve social cohesion by increasing participation
in society regardless of individual differences or impediments. Human augmentation
could also allow people to connect in more intense and creative ways (for example, via
linked brain machine interfaces). Human augmentation will also provide tools for people
to express their individuality in more pronounced ways, potentially leading to a more
diverse society. This could lead to more creativity, acceptance and innovation, but may
also increase social fragmentation if people divide into different groups. For example,
those who either reject human augmentation or use it for unusual applications could
be marginalised, or even persecuted. Additionally, an augmented intelligent population
may saturate the employment market and lead to swathes of highly capable young
adults being obliged to take menial employment resulting in a sense of unfulfillment and
frustration, leading to social tension.^41
Safety and security
Human augmentation is founded on very personal (biological) data and the use of this
data in many aspects of daily life will pose both significant challenges and threats to
safety, security and privacy. The governance frameworks for securing data will need
to be both national and international in nature, so that it can be easily shared but also
protected. Some governments may use this data to exert control over their citizens,
leading to new forms of oppression. Governments may also consider this data as a
national security issue: such large and detailed data sets could be exploited for malign
purposes.
41 Early signs of this trend can already be observed in South East Asian countries.
Human augmentation is founded on very personal data